System and method for facilitating setup and joining of conference calls

ABSTRACT

A system for managing a conference call, the system comprising a call answering server configured to receive a call from an attendee device that has been forwarded from a host device, identify a conference call associated with the host device for the attendee device to join, receive a request from the attendee device to join the conference call, and connect the attendee device to the conference call.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/369,510, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING SETUP ANDJOINING OF CONFERENCE CALLS,” filed on Aug. 1, 2016, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of communications and morespecifically to multi-party real-time conference communications such asconference calls.

Description of the Related Art

Conference call communications are a tool widely used in business as ameans to facilitate communication between two or more parties. Mostcurrent systems enable conference calls by utilizing a special callnumber dedicated to conferencing and identify the members of theconference as a host or participants. The host is typically the partythat creates a conference call, normally by specifying a certain time orschedule whereby the conference will occur (e.g., 2 pm today, everyTuesday at 2 pm, etc.). The conference is then joined by both host andparticipants by using a telephone to connect into the dedicatedconference number at the desired time and typically by providing otheridentifying information such as a conference room identifier or apasscode/personal identification number (PIN).

Often a party will have difficulty attending a conference call on timeor at all, as they will not have at-hand the required conference callnumber, conference room identifier and/or passcode/PIN. Normally thesedetails are communicated by other means such email, software or physicalcalendars, etc. In a busy workday, parties are often unable to quicklyaccess the details required to attend the conference, and time is lostas they search their email accounts, their physical desktop, or usecomputer devices or their mobile devices to access calendars. Further,individuals on-the-go, such as those driving motor vehicles, often havedifficulty remembering and then entering a complex set of numbers into akeypad, without having to stop their primary task completely, or findthemselves repeatedly consulting and then inputting these complexsequences of numbers as their connections fail and the process has to bestarted over.

Thus, there is a need for the ability to create conference calls thatrequire no additional details from the host or participants to begin orjoin the conference call.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and non-transitorycomputer-readable media for management of a conference call. The systemcomprises a call answering server configured to receive a call from anattendee device that has been forwarded from a host device, identify amulti-party real-time communication associated with the host device forthe attendee device to join, receive a request from the attendee deviceto join the multi-party real-time communication, and connect theattendee device to the multi-party real-time communication.

According to one embodiment, the call answering server may be furtherconfigured to identify the multi-party real-time communication based onan identification of the attendee device. The call answering server mayalso be configured to identify the attendee device based on an addressbook associated with the host device. In another embodiment, the callanswering server is configured to use the address book to provideinformation about participants in the multi-party real-timecommunication when the participants join or leave the multi-partyreal-time communication. The call answering server configured toidentify the multi-party real-time communication based on a database ofmulti-party real-time communications or hosts. The call answering servermay create a conference bridge between the host device and the attendeedevice.

In a certain embodiment, the call answering server is configured togreet the attendee device to inform the attendee device has correctlyconnected to the host device. The call answering server may also receivecall answering configurations associated with the host device. The callanswering server can handle the call from the attendee device based onthe call answering configurations. The call answering configurations mayinclude options for call greeting, voice message services, andconference joining. According to one embodiment, the call answeringserver is configured to receive a request from the attendee device torecord a voicemail message. The call from the attendee device can beestablished using an Internet-based telephony connection or a publicswitched telephone network connection.

The non-transitory computer-readable media comprises computer programcode for receiving a call from an attendee device that has beenforwarded from a host device, computer program code for identifying amulti-party real-time communication associated with the host device forthe attendee device to join, computer program code for receiving arequest from the attendee device to join the multi-party real-timecommunication, and computer program code for connecting the attendeedevice to the multi-party real-time communication.

The non-transitory computer-readable media may further comprise computerprogram code for identifying the multi-party real-time communicationbased on an identification of the attendee device. In anotherembodiment, the non-transitory computer-readable media further comprisescomputer program code for identifying the attendee device based on anaddress book associated with the host device. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media may also comprise computer program code forusing the address book to provide information about participants in themulti-party real-time communication when the participants join or leavethe multi-party real-time communication. In yet another embodiment, thenon-transitory computer-readable media further comprises computerprogram code for identifying the multi-party real-time communicationbased on a database of multi-party real-time communications or hosts.The call from the attendee device can be established using anInternet-based telephony connection or a public switched telephonenetwork connection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawingswhich are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in which likereferences are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method for establishing a conferencecall according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a method for routing a conferencecall according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence diagram of connecting an attendee's callto a conference according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, exemplary embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. Subject matter may, however, be embodied ina variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subjectmatter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any exampleembodiments set forth herein; example embodiments are provided merely tobe illustrative. It is to be understood that other embodiments may beutilized and structural changes may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. Likewise, a reasonably broad scope forclaimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, forexample, subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components,or systems. Accordingly, embodiments may, for example, take the form ofhardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof (other thansoftware per se). The following detailed description is, therefore, notintended to be taken in a limiting sense.

Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meaningssuggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning.Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in anotherembodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a differentembodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matterinclude combinations of exemplary embodiments in whole or in part.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for enabling personsor entities who wish to host a conference call or other types ofmulti-party real-time communications with minimal setup effort involved,such as communicating technical details such as a specialized conferencenumber, conference room identifier or passcode/PIN, is disclosed. Byknowing the conference call host, a participant can dial or send acommunication request to the host's number, and the host, knowing that aconference is occurring, can ignore the call, allowing a server ormachine providing communication services, such as a call answeringsystem, to answer the participant's call or communication request and ifthe participant is a qualified participant, either directly place theminto the conference, or allow them to join the conference upon pressinga single device key indicating their intent to join the conference.Further, the call answering system can automatically identify andannounce new participants to others when they join or leave theconference, without the need for such new participant to record any nameor other information before or upon joining a conference.

A host wishing to begin a conference call with other participants mayalready possess a contact number that is known or available to the otherparticipants, such as their mobile phone number or a landline officephone number. The host can ask participants to dial or submit acommunication request to this known number at a desired time for aconference call session, and those participants can indicate, when thehost's number answers via a call answering server, that they would liketo join the relevant conference call. In this way, the participants arenot required to obtain a number specialized for the conference call, nora conference room identifier, nor a special PIN or passcode to enter theconference.

Upon joining the conference call, the call answering server can usemetadata from the incoming parties requesting to begin or join a call,combined with a variety data sources about the phone numbers of the hostand of each participant, to determine the identities of eachparticipant, and to then provide customized audio to the host and eachparticipant identifying any or all of those parties on the call, at anytime, including identifying the time at which any participant joins orleaves the call.

The disclosed call answering system may be used to supplement or replaceconventional voicemail service provided by telecommunication carriers.Unanswered calls (e.g., ignored by the call recipient, or when the callrecipient is busy, or the call recipient's receiving device is eithernot operational or “turned off”) may be forwarded to the call answeringsystem, where a variety of activities may be performed. These includejoining the caller to a conference call of the call recipient; greetingthe caller; and prompting the caller to record a voicemail message forthe intended call recipient.

FIG. 1 presents a system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The system comprises a plurality of client devices includinghost device 102 and attendee device 104 that are communicativelyinterconnected by network 108. Network 108 may be any suitable type ofnetwork allowing transport of data communications across thereof andbetween devices, such as, between servers and client devices or othertypes of devices, including between wireless devices coupled via awireless network. For example, Network 108 may include any combinationof voice and data lines such as private branch exchange (PBX), publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), integrated services digital network(ISDN), digital subscriber line (DSL), and Internet lines. Additionally,the network may be the Internet, following known Internet protocols fordata communication, or any other communication network, e.g., any localarea network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) connection, cellularnetwork, wire-line type connections, wireless type connections, or anycombination thereof. Communications to and from client devices may beencrypted using, for example, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)with a 128, 192, or 256-bit key size, or any other encryption standardknown in the art.

Host device 102 and attendee device 104 may comprise computing devices(e.g., desktop computers, television devices, terminals, laptops,personal digital assistants (PDA), cellular phones, smartphones, tabletcomputers, smart watches and wearable devices, or any computing devicehaving a central processing unit and memory unit capable of connectingto a network). The client devices may include hardware capable ofestablishing a connection over voice and/or data lines, or software thatconverts analog audio to a digitized form and transmits it over network108. A client device may include or execute a variety of operatingsystems, including a personal computer operating system, such as aWindows, Mac OS or Linux, or a mobile operating system, such as iOS,Android, or Windows Mobile, or the like. A client device may furtherinclude or execute an application to communicate content, such as, forexample, textual content, audio content, multimedia content, or thelike. A client device may also include or execute an application toperform a variety of possible tasks, such as browsing, searching, andplaying various forms of content, including streamed audio and video. Aclient device may include or may execute a variety of possibleapplications, such as a client software application enablingcommunication with other devices, such as communicating one or moremessages, such as via email, short message service (SMS), or multimediamessage service (MMS), including via a network, as well as a socialnetwork, including, for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter,Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+, to provide only a few possibleexamples.

The system further includes a call answering server 110 that can beconfigured to provide voicemail and conferencing services. Host device102 may configure, either locally on the device or withtelecommunications carrier 106, forwarding of unanswered calls directedto host device 102 to call answering server 110. For example, callanswering server 110 may be configured to receive an unanswered call tohost device 102 from attendee device 104. Call answering server 110 mayanswer forwarded calls by greeting the caller, providing an option forthe caller to join a conference call with the call recipient (hostdevice 102), or recording a voice message. Optionally, the callanswering server 110 may vary call answering and available options basedon an identification of the caller (e.g., known and unknown callers).Call answering server 110 can identify callers by extracting calleridentification information from an incoming call (e.g., caller ID(identification) or header in data packets of Internet Protocol (IP)calls) or accessing contacts from the host device 102 from local storageor address book server 112. Address book server 112 may include anonline address book, contact list, or social networking service wherehost device 102 may upload, import, and backup contacts from the hostdevice 102 to a cloud server.

According to one embodiment, call answering server 110 includes softwareand/or hardware for creating a conferencing bridge for one or moreconference participants, such as host device 102 and attendee device104. A conference may be established over the conference bridge by acall leader, such as, host device 102. Host device 102 may create theconference line, for example, requesting or otherwise transmittingconference configurations to call answering server 110. Attendees, suchas attendee device 104, may join a conference line created by hostdevice 102 by transmitting a communication request directly to hostdevice 102. Conference attendees may be remotely located and establishconnections to the host device 108 via network 108 through any suitablemechanism. The call answering server 110 may include a plurality ofports which can be programmed to accept calls from attendees viaunanswered call forwarding to the call answering server 110. Callanswering server 110 can process communications received through network108 via, for example, PSTN or Internet-based telephony (e.g., based onsession initiation protocol (SIP), H.323, VoIP, etc.). Telephonyconnections may be established through network 108 to the conferencebridge (call answering server 110), or any other suitable manner. Assuch, calls to host device 102 may be connected by call answering server110 to the conference line created by host device 102.

Servers, as described herein, may vary widely in configuration orcapabilities but are comprised of at least a special-purpose digitalcomputing device including at least one or more central processing unitsand memory. A server may also include one or more of mass storagedevices, power supplies, wired or wireless network interfaces,input/output interfaces, and operating systems, such as Windows Server,Mac OS X, Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, or the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method for establishing a conferencecall according to an embodiment of the present invention. Call answeringconfigurations are received from a host device, step 202. The hostdevice may establish an account with a call answering system toconfigure handling of call forwarding from the host device based on thecall answering configurations. The call answering configurations mayinclude options for answering unanswered calls, such as, call greeting,providing voice message services, and joining a caller (to the hostdevice) to a conference line created by the host device. The callanswering configurations may be synchronized with call forwardingfunctionality, either through the telecommunications carrier associatedwith the host device or through settings on the host device.

A call forwarded from the host device is received, step 204. The callforwarded from the host device may be an unanswered call, that is, acall from a caller (device) that the host device may choose to ignore ordecline. The call answering configurations may cause routing of theunanswered call from the caller device to connect with the callanswering system. Handling of the call is determined based on the callanswering configurations, step 206. The call may be answered by the callanswering service by greeting the caller and providing the caller withan option for the caller to leave a voice message or join a conferencecall created by the host device.

A command from the caller device is received, step 208. The callanswering system determines whether the command is a request to join theconference call, step 210. If the command contains a request to join theconference call, the caller device is joined to the conference call bybridging the forwarded call to the conference line, step 212.Optionally, the caller may be prompted for a passcode designated by thehost to allow joining to the conference call. Otherwise, the callanswering system determines whether the command includes a request to bedirected to a voicemail service, step 214. A request to be directed tothe voicemail service allows the caller to record a voicemail messagewith the call answering system, step 218. The caller device is thendisconnected, step 216. If the command does not indicate that the callerwishes to proceed to voicemail service, the call is disconnected, step216.

FIG. 3 presents a host establishing conference calls with a callanswering service according to an embodiment of the present invention.The call answering service may include software, instructions, orfunctions that are performed by a device such as the call answeringserver disclosed herewith. The host 302 may create an account in varietyof ways, such as, by downloading an application or going online to a website. The host 302 can then configure call or message forwarding fortheir phone number 555-555-1111 to 555-555-3333 of the call answeringservice 306, whether it's a device, a landline, VOIP line, or PBX, whichis done in a variety of ways, from submitting special ‘*’ codes to thecall answering service telephone number, to going online at a carrierweb site, or calling the carrier and requesting that the forwarding beset up. The configuration may include a relationship between an attendee304, host 302 and call answering service 306 devices and phone numbers.In particular, the host 302 may configure the call answering service 306to receive a call from an attendee 304 when the attendee's call isignored or declined. The call answering service 306 may greet theattendee and provide an option for the attendee to join a conferencecall, without the need for the host to specify information about who isattending or when the conference call is going to happen. The callanswering service 306 can examine metadata information of the call todetermine which conference to connect the caller to. For example, in thecase of a call connected using SIP, it can inspect the SIP diversionheader to determine the original called number, which in turn can beevaluated against a database of conference calls or hosts to determinewhich host's mailbox and conferences should be accessed by that caller.Optionally, a host's “address book” may be accessed or retrieved from acloud for identifying conference call parties. For example,“555-555-1111” may or may not be a known contact of host 302 until callanswering service 306 accesses or retrieves the host's address book. Thecall answering server may also use the address book or data sources togenerate and automatically provide audio information about otherparticipants in the conference call whenever someone joins or leaves theconference call.

FIG. 4 presents a sequence diagram of a method for joining attendees toa conference according to an embodiment of the present invention. A hostmay allow attendees to join a conference communication session createdby the host by redirecting calls, for example, call forwarding orunanswered calls, from the attendees to a call answering service. Anattendee transmits a communication request to the host's normal numberto call the host, 402. The host can ignore the call and the host's callforwarding configuration may send the attendee's call to a callanswering service, 404. The call answering service is operable to greetthe attendee, confirming that the attendee has correctly connected tothe host, and enable conference joining by the attendee, 406. Theattendee can elect to join the conference, causing the call answeringservice to place the attendee into the conference. The attendee isplaced into a conference communication session with the host and anyother attendee(s), 408. Hosts can join their own conference in the sameway as the participants by, for example, calling a phone number to jointhe conference communication session, or pressing a button in anapplication or web service, which determines the appropriate number tosubmit a communication request and then transmit it for them.

FIGS. 1 through 4 are conceptual illustrations allowing for anexplanation of the present invention. Notably, the figures and examplesabove are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention to asingle embodiment, as other embodiments are possible by way ofinterchange of some or all of the described or illustrated elements.Moreover, where certain elements of the present invention can bepartially or fully implemented using known components, only thoseportions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, anembodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily belimited to other embodiments including a plurality of the samecomponent, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein.Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification orclaims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitlyset forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses presentand future known equivalents to the known components referred to hereinby way of illustration.

It should be understood that various aspects of the embodiments of thepresent invention could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software,or combinations thereof. In such embodiments, the various componentsand/or steps would be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or softwareto perform the functions of the present invention. That is, the samepiece of hardware, firmware, or module of software could perform one ormore of the illustrated blocks (e.g., components or steps). In softwareimplementations, computer software (e.g., programs or otherinstructions) and/or data is stored on a machine readable medium as partof a computer program product, and is loaded into a computer system orother device or machine via a removable storage drive, hard drive, orcommunications interface. Computer programs (also called computercontrol logic or computer-readable program code) are stored in a mainand/or secondary memory, and executed by one or more processors(controllers, or the like) to cause the one or more processors toperform the functions of the invention as described herein. In thisdocument, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computer-readablemedium,” “computer program medium,” and “computer usable medium” areused to generally refer to media such as a random access memory (RAM); aread only memory (ROM); a removable storage unit (e.g., a magnetic oroptical disc, flash memory device, or the like); a hard disk; or thelike.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including thecontents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein),readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specificembodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from thegeneral concept of the present invention. Such adaptations andmodifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light ofthe teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with theknowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for managing a conference call, thesystem comprising: a call answering server configured to: receive a callfrom an attendee device that has been forwarded from a host device;identify a conference call associated with the host device for theattendee device to join; receive a request from the attendee device tojoin the conference call; and connect the attendee device to theconference call.
 2. The system of claim 1 further comprising the callanswering server configured to identify the conference call based on anidentification of the attendee device.
 3. The system of claim 2 furthercomprising the call answering server configured to identify the attendeedevice based on an address book associated with the host device.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3 further comprising the call answering serverconfigured to use the address book to provide information aboutparticipants in the conference call when the participants join or leavethe conference call.
 5. The system of claim 1 further comprising thecall answering server configured to identify the conference call basedon a database of conference calls or hosts.
 6. The system of claim 1further comprising the call answering server configured to create aconference bridge between the host device and the attendee device. 7.The system of claim 1 further comprising the call answering serverconfigured to greet the attendee device to inform the attendee devicehas correctly connected to the host device.
 8. The system of claim 1further comprising the call answering server configured to receive callanswering configurations associated with the host device.
 9. The systemof claim 8 further comprising the call answering server configured tohandle the call from the attendee device based on the call answeringconfigurations.
 10. The system of claim 8 wherein the call answeringconfigurations include options for call greeting, voice messageservices, and conference joining.
 11. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising the call answering server configured to receive a requestfrom the attendee device to record a voicemail message.
 12. The systemof claim 1 wherein the call from the attendee device is establishedusing an Internet-based telephony connection.
 13. The system of claim 1wherein the call from the attendee device is established using a publicswitched telephone network connection.
 14. Non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising program code that when executed by aprogrammable processor causes execution of a method for managing aconference call, the computer-readable media comprising: computerprogram code for receiving a call from an attendee device that has beenforwarded from a host device; computer program code for identifying aconference call associated with the host device for the attendee deviceto join; computer program code for receiving a request from the attendeedevice to join the conference call; and computer program code forconnecting the attendee device to the conference call.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14 further comprisingcomputer program code for identifying the conference call based on anidentification of the attendee device.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 15 further comprising computer programcode for identifying the attendee device based on an address bookassociated with the host device.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 16 further comprising computer programcode for using the address book to provide information aboutparticipants in the conference call when the participants join or leavethe conference call.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable media ofclaim 14 further comprising computer program code for identifying theconference call based on a database of conference calls or hosts. 19.The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14 wherein the callfrom the attendee device is established using an Internet-basedtelephony connection.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable media ofclaim 14 wherein the call from the attendee device is established usinga public switched telephone network connection.